New award for business journalism to honour memory of Keith McDonald

NEWS Corporation chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch has announced the establishment of an award for business journalism in honour of former newspaper executive Keith McDonald, who died last week.

Mr Murdoch said he had been deeply moved by the passing of Mr McDonald - who he described as "a great figure who made an indelible imprint on journalism in Queensland and on our company".

"I of course knew Keith very well and regarded him as one of Australia's most distinguished publishing executives," Mr Murdoch wrote yesterday in an email to News Limited staff.

"He shared my lifelong passion for the newspaper business and in his case that passion helped create really strong newspapers in Queensland which have continued to thrive through many competitive threats.

"Keith was an avid consumer of both the products and the management reports of the company and I always valued his counsel.

"I will remember Keith with affection and respect. I have many happy memories of our exchanges for over sixty years.

"As a tribute to Keith we are establishing an award for business journalism in his honour, the details of which will be announced in the New Year."

Mr McDonald's career spanned half a century in which he rose from a reporter to a director of the world's leading media organisation.

Born into a Biggenden dairy-farming family, Mr McDonald won an Archibald Scholarship to study a Bachelor of Commerce at the University of Queensland in 1944. Graduating with first class honours, he began work as an investment adviser and stockbroker.

But he soon found his calling in the newspaper industry, joining The Courier-Mail as a finance reporter and rising quickly to finance editor.

His abilities were soon noticed by Queensland Newspapers proprietor Sir Keith Murdoch, who encouraged Mr McDonald's move into management. He served as chief executive and a director of the company.

Queensland Newspapers was sold to the Herald & Weekly Times group in 1954, but Sir Keith's son Rupert Murdoch regained ownership in 1986.

Mr McDonald served as a director of News Corporation from 1987 to 1998.

Most of his career was spent in Queensland and his great contribution to the state's media was acknowledged with the new $56 million News Queensland media centre at Bowen Hills named Keith McDonald House in his honour in March.

Appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for service to the print media industry, Mr McDonald earned a reputation not only as a most influential figure, but one of the most modest in the business.

He also served on the board of Brisbane's Wesley Hospital and on its ethics committee, and was a governor of the University of Queensland Foundation - the fundraising organisation for the university where his career began.

Mr McDonald died last Friday afternoon at aged care home in Brisbane, aged 86.